Kingsley Baby Trilogy: The Hero's Son\The Brother's Wife\The Long-Lost Heir (60 page)

David stopped at the edge of the garden. The trees were thicker here, and the night suddenly grew a little darker and quieter. A little more frightening.

He stared down at her in the moonlight. Bradlee’s heart started to pound at his nearness.

“Bradlee, we have to talk.”

“About what?”

“About us. About…this…” His voice trailed away as he wove his fingers through her hair and tilted her face upward while his mouth descended on hers.

Bradlee closed her eyes as his lips teased hers open, and he deepened the kiss with his tongue. His hands slipped from her hair to trace a fiery path over the contours of her body—her hips, her waist, the sides of her breasts. He touched her everywhere, and everywhere he touched, Bradlee melted. This was no ordinary kiss. This was a prelude to something wonderful.

She pressed herself to him, letting him know she was more than ready for that something.

When he finally broke the kiss, Bradlee could only gaze up at him. “David,” she whispered, shaken by the power of his touch. “I like the way you communicate.”

He laughed softly, still holding her in his arms. “We still have to talk.”

“Yes,” she agreed, standing on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck. “Let’s talk.”

This time, it was she who brought her lips to his, she who coaxed his mouth open, she who tangled her tongue with his. But David didn’t resist. Far from it. He cupped her bottom with his hands, molding her body even more tightly against his and moving against her in a way so sensuous, Bradlee’s every nerve-
ending exploded with passion.

One kiss led to another. And then another until Bradlee lost all sense of time. All sense of reason. The only thing that mattered was David kissing her, holding her, wanting her.

His mouth trailed kisses across her cheek and down her neck, then nibbled at her ear. “Did I happen to mention how beautiful you look tonight?” he murmured.

“As a matter of fact, no,” Bradlee said, reveling in his attention. In the wonder of it all.

Could this really be happening, or was she dreaming?

He drew back to gaze deeply into her eyes. “I think you’re the most desirable woman I’ve ever known.”

Bradlee melted all over again. “You make me feel that way,” she whispered. “I wish we could stay out here like this forever.”

Even in the moonlight, she could see a shadow in his eyes, a darkness that made her shiver. “Bradlee—”

“I know.” They weren’t quite as alone in the garden as she would have wished. A third person had suddenly joined them. A woman named Rachel.

Bradlee sighed.

David reached to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s not as if Rachel and I are married or anything, but I
have
made a commitment to her. I do owe her my faithfulness.”

“I know you do.” Bradlee stared up at him in the darkness. His face looked at once familiar and mysterious to her. At once close and so very far away. “I admire you for that.”

He paused, then after a moment said, “This thing between you and me…I don’t know what it is. I’m not a romantic like you are. I don’t believe in destiny. I’m not even sure I believe in love.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “I guess I’ve never experienced it. The woman who claimed to be my mother loved me, in her own way, but she lied to me. She took me away from my family and hid the truth about my real identity. Is that love?” His tone took on a bitter edge. “Someone in my own family may have paid to have me kidnapped, and even if they didn’t, no one here has exactly welcomed me home with open arms. Is
that
love?” He shrugged again. “I don’t know. If it is, I’m not sure I want any part of it.”

“What about you and Rachel?” Bradlee asked quietly, wondering if she really wanted to hear his answer.

“Rachel and I have what you’d call an understanding. We suit each other. Love doesn’t enter into it. As I said before, I’m not even sure I believe in love.”

He lifted his head to stare at the brilliantly-
lit mansion, and in the darkness, his profile was hardly more than a silhouette. Bradlee said softly, “Why is it I get the feeling you’re trying to tell me something?”

He hesitated. “I don’t want to hurt you. That’s the last thing I want.” He turned back to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. A thrill of excitement shot through her. “But I’m not sure I can be what you want me to be. I may not be the person you think I am. We had a bond when we were children, but we’ve been apart for over thirty years. You don’t really know me, Bradlee. I’m not Adam Kingsley anymore.”

“So you keep saying.”

His tone sounded ironic. “I just want your eyes to be wide-
open about this thing. About us.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “
Is
there an us?”

He cupped his hand around the back of her neck and drew her to him, until his chin rested in her hair. “I want you. More than any woman I’ve ever known. I think about you all day. I dream about you at night. I can’t seem to get you out of my head. I don’t know—is that love?”

She expelled a shaky breath. “It’ll do,” she whispered. “Believe me, it’ll do.”

She kissed him then, with an intensity that stole his breath away. David wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, never wanting to let her go. He’d never felt this way with Rachel—with any woman—and it was a little disconcerting for him to realize how quickly Bradlee could make him forget his commitments, his past and his future. All he wanted to think about was now, this moment, with Bradlee in his arms and the night electric with their passion.

He could have her, he knew. Bradlee was not a woman of subtleties. She didn’t try to hide her true feelings. She didn’t believe in game playing, and because of that, David knew he had to be honest with her. He had to make sure she understood that he wasn’t promising her “tomorrow,” let alone “forever.” How could he commit himself to a woman like Bradlee when he didn’t even know who he was anymore?

This time it was she who ended the kiss just as she had initiated it. When David would have pulled her back to him, a cooler head prevailed. “We’d better get back,” he said.

“I suppose we should,” she agreed.

But at the edge of the terrace, she hung back. He turned to stare down at her. Her eyes were soft and warm in the moonlight, dark pools of endless emotion. How was it he had never noticed how beautiful she was until now?

She smiled wistfully. “Fairy tales do happen, you know.”

He touched her fingertips to his lips. “Tonight, you can almost make me believe that.”

A hush fell over the ballroom as Bradlee and David stepped through the doorway. The orchestra had stopped playing, and Iris stood, beckoning David to her side.

“The moment of truth,” he said against Bradlee’s ear. “Meet me when this is over.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Where?”

He hesitated, then said, “The nursery. I’m going to ask Iris for the key. I think it’s time we face your nightmare together, Bradlee.”

Before she could respond, he left her near the French doors and took his place beside Iris. Edward joined them, and Pamela moved to her husband’s side, followed more reluctantly by Jeremy.

Iris’s gaze swept the crowd, lingering for a brief instant on each and every face. A murmur drifted through the gathering, but when she began to speak, the silence was instant.

“You have all probably read in the papers recently that my grandson, who was kidnapped from this very house thirty-
two years ago and whom we thought dead for most of those years, has finally been found. But what you don’t know is that during all those years when he was dead to us, Adam knew nothing about his real family. The woman who helped Raymond Colter abduct him managed to convince him that she was his real mother and that his name was David Powers. According to David, she gave him a good home, treated him as if he were her real son. For that I’m truly grateful, even though I have not been able to bring myself to forgive her for what she did to my family. But tonight we put all that behind us to celebrate Adam’s homecoming. Tonight is a night our family has waited for for over thirty years.”

She reached for David’s hand, and when their fingers were linked, she drew him to her side. Her blue eyes sparkled with unshed tears, and Bradlee thought she had never seen Iris so moved.

Bradlee blinked back her own tears. In spite of everything they’d been through, in spite of the fact that among the well-
wishers was probably someone who had masterminded David’s kidnapping, the moment was rich and poignant. After all those years, Adam Kingsley was home where he belonged.

Across the room, his gaze met Bradlee’s. She couldn’t tell from his expression what he was thinking, but he allowed Iris to cling to him and accepted an awkward hug from Edward. A buzz of excitement soon filled the room, and before Bradlee knew what was happening, a crowd had surrounded David, cutting him off from her view.

After a while, Bradlee saw Iris leave the ballroom on Edward’s arm. He escorted her up the stairs, where Illiana waited to help her to bed.

Bradlee didn’t see David anywhere. She wondered if he’d already gone up to the nursery to wait for her. Had Iris given him the key? she wondered.

Slipping from the ballroom, Bradlee made her way down the long corridor to the entrance hall and the curving front staircase. She could have used the one in the ballroom, but then someone might have seen her and questioned her departure. Or worse, followed her.

But she encountered no one on the front stairs or in the maze of hallways leading to the nursery. One of the double doors was ajar when she arrived, and Bradlee thought that David must somehow have left the ballroom without her noticing and gotten here first.

She started to call out his name, but then paused with her hand on the handle of the door. What if it wasn’t David inside that room?

A shiver raced up her spine. Maybe whoever had been in the nursery with a flashlight the other night was in there again tonight. Or maybe that person had left the door unlocked. Maybe the nursery was empty.

Bradlee stood just outside the door, listening intently to the darkness within. She could hear nothing, and with a tentative motion, pulled the door open wider.

The room was pitch-
black inside. Bradlee felt for a light switch, but when she flicked it, nothing happened. Maybe that was why someone had been using a flashlight the other night, she decided. The lights were out in here. The whole thing could have been perfectly innocent. No reason in the world for her to be frightened to go inside the nursery.

Still, she held back. It wouldn’t hurt to wait for David. He would be here any minute, and he would be the first to scold her for taking unnecessary chances.

Just as she started to back out of the room, Bradlee caught a very slight movement out of the corner of her eye. Her heart jumped to her throat. Had it been her imagination, or was someone in the room?

Bradlee whirled toward the door, but as she did so, she tripped over something lying on the floor. With a grunt of pain, she landed heavily on her right hip. Almost instantly a hand closed over her face. A cloth was shoved against her mouth and nose, and before Bradlee had time to struggle, blackness overcame her.

Can’t breathe!
a voice screamed inside her.
Can’t breathe! Can’t breathe!

Just as David was about to slip away from the crowd and go in search of Bradlee, someone touched his shoulder from behind and a feminine voice, deep and husky, whispered in his ear, “Surprise!”

He turned to stare in shock at Rachel Hollings
worth. Her dark hair was swept back as usual, and her sultry gray eyes sparkled with excitement. She wore a strapless red gown that would and did turn heads, and as David stared down at her, she laughed delightedly.

“Well, say
something,
” she urged. “Tell me how glad you are to see me. Or how much you love my dress. Or better yet—” her voice lowered seductively “—tell me how much you’d like to rip it off me.”

“How did you find me?” David said instead.

Displeasure flashed in her eyes. “Is that the best you can do?” She reached up to wrap her slender arms around his neck. “Isn’t it enough that I’m here?”

He removed her arms from around his neck, leading her toward the open French doors. When they were on the terrace, he let go of her arm. “Tell me how you knew about me. My name hasn’t been released to the media yet. At least, it wasn’t until tonight.”

She laughed excitedly. “Oh, David, I can’t believe this. Any of it.
You’re
Adam Kingsley. My God, think of it.” She made a sweeping gesture toward the mansion behind them. “All of this will be yours someday, and to think of that dump where you grew up—”

“It wasn’t a dump,” he said, although for the life of him he wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend the home where he’d grown up or the woman who had raised him. But he did, and fair or not, he suddenly resented Rachel’s intrusion into his life.

“Oh, don’t be so defensive,” she pouted. “You have to admit, there isn’t a house in all of Richford, New York, that can compare to this place.”

“You sound impressed,” David said dryly.

“Well, of course, I am. So is Daddy. He sends his regards, by the way. He isn’t holding a grudge against you anymore. He understands now, as do I, why you didn’t want to join the firm. But you should have told us, David. At least you should have told me. We are still engaged, aren’t we?”

“You haven’t answered my question,” he said. “How did you know to come here?”

“Does it matter?” she asked in exasperation.

“It might.”

She actually stamped her foot. “Honestly, you can be the most tiresome man when you get focused on something.”

“Then answer the question, and we can talk about something else.”

“Talking is not exactly what I had in mind.” The exasperation in her tone was slowly turning to anger. “You haven’t even kissed me, David, and so maybe you’d better answer
my
question.”

“Which was?”

“Are we still engaged?”